Reversible double-flange traveler ring



Jan. 3, 1956 .1 v. LINDNER 2,729,053

REVERSIBLE DOUBLE-FLANGE TRAVELER RING 7 Filed Dec. 20, 1952 VALENTIN LINDNER INVENTOR.

AGENT United States Patent ice 2,729,053 REVERSIBLE DOUBLE-FLANGETRAVELER RING Valentin Lindner, New York, N. Y,, assignorto Lenkotex Company, New York, N. Y., a partnership Application December 20,-1952, Serial No. 327,091

7 Claims. (Cl. 57-119) My present invention relates to traveler rings for spinning and twisting mechanisms, more particularly to traveler rings of the type having an upper and a lower flange adapted to be alternately used as the track or bearing surface of a traveler which revolves continuously about the ring when the same is in use.

It has already been proposed to provide double-flange rings of this character adapted to have either flange clamped in a chuck or ring holder while the other flange is exposed to be engaged by the traveler. This arrangement has the advantage that the previously inactive flange, which had been held by the chuck, may subsequently be used to support the traveler after the erstwhile supporting flange has become too worn for this function although being still capable of engagement by the ring holder. A

ring of this type may, therefore, be used approximately twice as long as one having but a single flange.

Because the active flange of the ring must be carefully machined and polished, dust, lint, humidity and other ambient agents may attack the second flange during its inactive period and may impair its subsequent usefulness, thereby necessitating more or less extensive resurfacing operations at the time when the ring is to be reversed. While the use of special alloys for the ring will retard the harmful effect of these ambient agents, the relative expensiveness of such materials will considerably increase the cost of manufacture; moreover, inasmuch as rings made from these more resistant alloys will enable the first flange thereof to be used over a correspondingly longer period, the time of exposure of the initially inactive flange to the harmful influences referred to will be proportionately increased and some machining or polishing will be necessary before the latter flange can be taken into use.

It is, accordingly, the general object of my invention to provide means for so protecting the inactive flange of a reversible traveler ring as to preserve said flange from harmful mechanical and/or atmospheric attack and to enable its use as the active traveler support after not more than a simple preliminary treatment requiring no precision machinery.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a method of protecting the inactive or mounting portion of a traveler ring, during its period of inactivity, against surface-destroying attacks and of thereafter removing the protecting agent by a simple routine treatment requiring no special skill. V

In accordance with the present invention I coat the lower or initially inactive portion of a traveler ring with a film of preferably plastic material; when the time has come for reversing the ring, I remove this film by means of a solvent, by low heat or by gentle abrasive action, or by a combination of several of these expedients.

The invention will be more fully described with reference to the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is an axial cross section of a traveler ring according to my invention, together with its holder, before reversal;

2,729,053 Patented Jan. 3, 1956 Fig. .2 is a bottom plan viewof. the ring showing the protective coating partly removed; and

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig.1, showing the ring after reversal. v t

The drawing shows atraveler ring, of any suitable metal or alloy, comprising a web 11, afirst flange 12 and a second flange 13. A ring holderor chuck generally designated 20, is recessed at 21 to receive the lower flange of the ring (which in Fig. l is the flange 13 and in Fig. 3 the flange 12) and is provided with a slot 22 to enable the holder to be compressed, by suitable mounting means not shown but well known per se, around the ring 10 so as tightly to clamp its lower flange in position. A traveler 30 engages the upper flange (i. e. the flange 12 in Fig. l) in the conventional manner.

In accordance with my present invention I provide the lower portion of the ring 10 prior to its reversal, i. e. the flange 13 and adjacent parts of the web 11, with a preferably plastic coating 40 forming a protective film thereon. This film should be so thin as not materially to increase the diameter of the flange 13, thereby enabling the ring 10 to fit into the holder 20 in the same manner as ordinary, uncoated rings; the thickness of the film 49 has been greatly exaggerated in the drawing for purposes of illustration.

It will be apparent that the presence of the film 40 on substantially the entire lower half of the ring 10 will protect the initially inactive flange 13 from oxidation as well as from mechanical attack by dust, metal particles and the like. After the flange 12 has become badly worn, the ring 10 is removed from its holder 20, the coating 4i? is stripped ofl and a fresh, clean sliding surface is presented to the traveler 30 by flange 13 as shown in Fig. 3.

Removal of the coating 40may, in the case of a thermoplastic material with low melting point, be facilitated by heating the ring 10 to a temperature at which this material will flow (yet which should not be so high as to cause any thermal deformation of the ring); the film may also be softened at ordinary or at slightly elevated temperatures by immersion in a suitable solvent therefor. Another mode of procedure is the use of a gentle abrasive which will not scratch the underlying metal.

Inasmuch as many film-forming materials adapted to fulfill the requirements of adequate protection and ready removabality are known per se, I do not consider my invention limited to any specific material, or group of materials, other than as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A metallic traveler ring comprising a Web, an upper anda lower flange symmetrically disposed on said web, and a film of plastic material forming a removable coating on said lower flange.

2. A metallic traveler ring comprising a web, an upper and a lower flange symmetrically disposed on said web, and a film of soluble plastic material forming a removable coating on said lower flange.

3. A metallic traveler ring comprising a web, an upper and a lower flange symmetrically disposed on said web, and a film of thermoplastic material forming a removable coating on said lower flange.

4. A metallic traveler ring comprising a web, a first and a second flange symmetrically disposed on said web, and a removable coating covering substantially one half of said ring including one of said flanges, the other of said flanges being free from said coating and forming an exposed sliding surface for a traveler.

5. A metallic traveler ring comprising a web, a first and a second flange symmetrically disposed on said Web, and a thin, removable plastic film covering substantially one half of said ring including one of said flanges.

6. In combination, a metallic traveler ring having an References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,595,858 Crompton Aug. 10, 1926 FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain Nov. 28, 1944 upper and a lower flange symmetrically disposed, a plastic coating forming a removable film on the lower portion of said ring including said lower flange, a holder releasably engaging said coated lower flange, and a traveler slidably engaging said upper flange.

7. In combination, a metallic traveler ring having an 565 796 upper and a lower flange symmetrically disposed, a removable coating covering the lower portion of said ring in- OTHER REFERENCES Cluding Said lower flange but leaving fl'efi Said pp The Spinning Ring, reprinted from October 1930, flange, a holder releasably engaging said coated lower 10 numberofCotton,"At1anta, Georgia flange, and a traveler slidably engaging said uncoatcd upper flange. 

